Just Breathe
by FairyTails77
Summary: After Natsu sneaks into Lucy's apartment in the middle of the night, he finds her having an anxiety attack and tries to comfort her.


"Shhhhh! You'll wake her up!"

It was almost one in the morning when Natsu and Happy decided to sneak inside Lucy's apartment. For some reason, they found themselves unable to fall sleep easily since they had gotten back to Magnolia after their year long training session.

"I can't help it! I can't see anything when it's this dark." Natsu retorted as he picked himself back up off the floor.

"Natsu you fell out of her bedroom window and walked straight into her bathroom door..."

"Yah so? What's your point?"

"We've been coming to the same apartment for years! You can't blame your stupidity on it being 'too dark'." The blue climbed on top of Lucy's empty bed and sat down.

"Yah well..." He folded his arms, unable to come up with a good comeback. As Happy lectured him, Natsu looked around the dark room and glanced on the bed his friend was sitting on.

"Where's Lucy?"

Happy paused and looked behind him. Where there should have been a Lucy shaped bump in the blankets was an empty bed. All of the blankets except for one were missing as well as the pillows, which laid scattered across the floor.

Frowning, both Natsu and Happy quietly followed the pillow trail and found themselves at the living room couch. A large mass of blankets covered the entire couch and left only a small spot of blonde hair peaking out the end. As they walked around, they could see that she was shaking and she was breathing rapidly. Her eyes shut tight.

"Hey Luce? You ok?" Natsu kneeled down so that he was face to face with her. Lucy hesitated but eventually she shook her head.

Natsu stood up and looked to Happy.

"Happy, can you go and get me some water and a hair brush real quick?" He looked between the two and then nodded as he disappeared into the other room. Natsu had seen something like this happen before with Lucy, but it seemed to be occurring more often now that they were back in Magnolia after a year. After around the third time, he was starting to get the hang of comforting Lucy when she had an attack.

"Come here Luce..." Natsu lifted her upper body up so that he could sit where she was laying. After putting a pillow on his lap, he gently laid her head down and pulled the blankets up to her shoulders. Happy had returned with the water and hair brush at this point. He jumped up on the couch and laid down in front of her, just close enough that she could pull him closer if she wanted to.

"Just take deep breaths Luce. It's going to be ok..."

The blonde had turned to her side and did as she was told, feeling slightly better. She still gripped the blankets tight but it didn't help stop the shaking. Natsu pulled out the hairbrush and began gently brushing her hair out, careful not to pull too hard. After it was brushed out, he started to play with her hair whether it be braiding or just simply running his fingers through it.

It wasn't until around two in the morning did she finally stop shaking. She was no longer petting Happy. Instead, her arm draped over him. Her breathing had evened out and Natsu could tell she had finally fallen sleep.

Exhausted, Natsu rested one hand on the top of the couch and the other draped across her body. He laid his head back and almost instantly fell asleep.

The next morning, Natsu woke up to something sizzling in a pan. He rubbed his eyes to rid them of any sleep he had managed to get that night. Looking down he noticed that the blankets were pushed off and Lucy was missing.

"Morning Natsu..."

He glanced up to see her in the kitchen. She wore a pair of pj shorts and an old baggy t-shirt and her hair was up in a messy bun.

"Morning Luce. How'd you sleep?" Lucy didn't look up.

"Good. Finally managed to get some." Natsu nodded and listened to the sound of breakfast while closing his eyes.

"Thank you by the way..." He snapped out of his little trance and turned towards Lucy. It took a second to process what she said.

He gave her his famous toothy grin. "No prob! Just glad you're ok."


End file.
